Body Snatched by Ana Diamond – Spotlight and Giveaway

November 17, 2022 By 4 Comments

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Ana Diamond will be awarding a $25 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

What’s worse than losing a body from a funeral home? Losing two. But mortician and amatuer sleuth, Lily Reynolds has a hunch. The new visitor in town, Rick Drakon, may have charmed his way into her life but she’s not fooled by his smooth talking ways. Problem is, Rick is a long-time friend of Lily’s new husband, Detective James Rivers. While James is busy convincing her to look elsewhere, Lily embarks on a dangerous path toward uncovering the truth. Will this case come between the couple or will Lily find herself closer to evil than ever before?

Enjoy an Excerpt

She sprinted toward the ambulance with James inside. Her heart leaped into her throat. She didn’t want to alarm the others, but she didn’t really know if he was going to make it. Antonio had not. And what would she do if he didn’t? Images of her life with James flashed before her eyes.

From the moment when she’d first laid eyes on his silky black hair and tattooed biceps in the basement of her funeral home to their wedding day when he told her they would be together forever, this could not be the end. She would not want to go on. Tears flooded her eyes, clouding her vision as she ran toward the ambulance James had been loaded into. Yanking the back door open wide, she propelled herself inside.

His eyes were closed but his body had been hooked up to monitors that beeped incessantly. Intravenous fluids ran down the tubing and into James’s arms. And there was blood—lots of blood on the floor of the truck and on the linens of the stretcher. She willed herself into tunnel vision to avoid seeing nothing but red. The paramedics sat on opposite sides of the ambulance monitoring the machines hooked up to him.

She stood at the foot of the stretcher watching for any movement. Was he unconscious? Had he slipped into a coma? Was he only minutes from death? She’d stopped breathing altogether until she touched his leg and his eyes popped open.

“You know, this is the first time I’ve ever been shot.” His eyes sparkled with mischief.

She released the air from her lungs and chuckled at him. Her heart could beat again. “Congratulations. I’ll tell you what you’ve won later. Now work on not dying.”

He smiled and laid his head back on the pillow. “Yes, ma’am.”

About the Author:When Ana Diamond isn’t writing about tough gals finding love in unexpected places, she’s at work by day in the medical field. She writes romantic cozy mystery novels with feisty strong women and alluring men who can’t resist them. Her books are fast paced, entertaining and heartfelt all at once.

Ana is a 2020 Tara Contest Finalist for Body Conscious and 2015 Melody of Love contest finalist. She lives in New York with her husband, two children and two needy but wildly entertaining kitty cats.

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | BookBub | TikTok

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How to Write Realistic Female Characters by Bryan Cole – Guest Blog and Giveaway

November 16, 2022 By 7 Comments

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Bryan Cole will be awarding a $15 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

How to Write Realistic Female Characters
One of the overriding goals that I had for myself was to ensure that I included female characters in Beginning of Arrogance. Including them is easy but making them meaningful and realistic is something altogether different. As I researched this subject, I learned a great deal about not just the predominant archetypes for female characters that exist today, but also how flawed those representations can be.

The existing categories that exist can be broken down into five major groups: the damsel in distress, the sexy one, the child-like silly one, the maternal one, and the macho tough-girl. It isn’t even that any of these categories are wrong, per se, but rather that they define entirely who the character is. Having a sense of childlike wonder at the world does not preclude someone from also being tough or maternal (or both!). Likewise, having an awareness of their own sexuality does not limit them in any way either.

One of the common solutions to the problem of too few female characters or characters that have only a single narrative role is to take a male character and turn them into a female character. This can work, but often reads strangely on the page for reasons that are not immediately obvious. Often when I read these characters, imagining them as a man makes them click much more with their dialog and narrative choices, which is a sure sign they started out that way and were swapped later. These dialog options are most common in the macho tough-girl persona. I can’t count the number of times I’ve read female characters saying things like “Don’t be such a girl!” or “No time for rest, princesses!” or something similar. Big Hero Six had a subtle subversion of this when Go Go said “Woman Up!” to the team.

Identifying things to avoid is one aspect of writing female characters, but how do you identify what you should write? For that, I simply looked at the various women I know in real life and took attributes from their personalities to flesh out my characters. I came up with the major themes of who the various characters are – Dahlia being very private, for example – and found real-world examples of those attributes and how they manifest.

By far the best example I found was my wife. She is the most complex, beautiful, and dynamic person I know (warning: I may be letting my personal bias show). Aspects of her personality are found in many of the female characters I wrote, but particularly the three ladies introduced in Chapter 16. Each of them has a core identity of who they are, inspired in no small part by my wife.

Using Dahlia as a case study, she dislikes being the focus of attention in social situations. This personality trait influences her skillset and behavior, as well as her interactions with others in the story. She’s content to be in the background, but that isn’t the same as being unable to stand up for herself or inject her opinion when it matters. Some of my female friends here in the real world have very clear ideas about when something is important to them, and that is when they engage in the conversation. On those subjects that matter, the strength of who they are should shine through.

This takes us to the subject of femininity. One concept that I disagree with is that women should only have feminine interests, and men should have masculine interests. Part of the reason I made Krell the way he is was so that he could look at these areas with clear eyes and discover that he enjoys aspects of living that others may mock him for. As an example, he’s never really slept in a comfortable bed before. Likewise, the female characters can have likes, preferences, and desires that need not align with any gender stereotype. One of the recurring themes with the three ladies is that they are all competent warriors. That means, as a rule, they are not going to wear impractical footwear or dresses when trudging through forests or swamps, but it also doesn’t mean they are going to ignore their appearances either. They take pride in their appearance because that is who they are, and the practical application of self-care in-story is something I hope people resonate with. Magic is awesome, and people in fantasy literature don’t use it casually often enough.

Strength without masculinity, femininity without weakness, and their own likes, dislikes, interests, and passions, just like every other character – this is how I approached writing female characters in Beginning of Arrogance!

Paladins are nothing but trouble. Stories about paladins are everywhere, noble warriors riding magic steeds into battle against terrible foes. Champions of their gods. Heroes to everyone, except those who already have everything. Paladins are notorious for upsetting the balance of power, to the detriment of any who don’t worship their deity.

So when Krell is called to service by the capricious god of the seas and skies, ReckNor, those with wealth and power can’t help but be concerned. ReckNor hasn’t called a paladin in years, and his nature is ever-changing and erratic. The fact that Krell is also an uneducated nobody with a stubborn streak as wide as the sea turns their concerns into fear.

All of which matters less than the threat clawing its way from the waves, ready to turn the ocean red with spilled blood…

Enjoy an Excerpt

Krell’s sword struck the pell.

His heavy breathing couldn’t disguise the dull thunk from the blade as it hit, bits of wood breaking off. Krell twisted his wrist and pulled, disengaging the blade. He struck again, the blade sliding along the wood, leaving a fresh scar. Once again, he failed to cut through the post.

Krell recovered his stance, his shield raised as Olgar taught him while his sword moved back into proper striking position. His next strike was high and carved another sliver of wood. Without waiting, Krell swung again. The sword hit lower than Krell wanted. He pulled back into the proper stance, and his next strike was on target, carving deep into the wood.

“All right, lad, I think we’ve seen enough,” a voice said from somewhere ahead of him.

Krell took a step back from the pell. An unsteady step, he was forced to admit. The sun was still high in the sky. Sweat ran into his blue eyes, causing him to blink in irritation. He glared at the wooden post. No more than halfway through. His chain mail armor was heavy on his shoulders.

He looked over at the town council, seated at a long table under an awning. They had comfortable chairs for the most part, and were sipping on what looked like cool drinks in the shade. Krell wondered how much attention they were actually paying to this test.

Amra Thort was the leader of the town council, and owner of one of the largest fishing fleets in Watford. She was a formidable- looking woman with steel gray hair, whose hands bore the signs of hard work done many years ago. People in the town respected her, Olgar had told him.

Seated next to her was Daylan Plintform, a wealthy merchant who owned many trading and fishing vessels. His long face was handsome, but he always looked irritated, even when he wasn’t. Olgar detested him, but refused to explain why. He was popular in town, since he paid for numerous festivals and banquets when the catch was good.

About the Author:

Bryan is an avid reader, and has loved the fantasy genre since he was a child. His love of stories of mighty knights, terrible dragons, and noble steeds has inspired him for decades.

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Hopepunk by Branwen Oshea – Guest Blog and Giveaway

November 16, 2022 By 5 Comments

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Branwen OShea will be awarding $30 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

You describe your series as hopepunk sci-fi. What does that mean to you?

Hopepunk is a new genre, so for those not familiar with the term, it’s often described as a rebellion against the book world’s social/political norms (the punk part), but a rebellion of hope and love, rather than the desperate violence that often characterizes grimdark. Of course, hopepunk contains violence, but it’s wielded in a manner that holds that people can be good and humanity is worth saving. I can’t remember who said it, but someone once described it as a story where characters face horrible situations but refuse to lose their humanity no matter what happens. I really resonate with that.

I finished the draft of The Calling long before the term “hopepunk” was coined, so I’d say it’s more the way I naturally live and write than a genre choice. When I was writing it, YA multiple POV novels (like Six of Crows) had not yet hit the lists and I was told no one would ever read mine because of the POV and genre choices I had made. But, it took me so long to write it, lol, that the readers’ interests changed by the time it was published.

The Calling (book one) starts out appearing dystopian, where humans are surviving a new ice age by sheltering underground. Their world has grown dark and controlled, and the mysterious Sickness has killed so many teens that extinction is looking inevitable. This starting point was a clear choice, as I wanted to show a world that looked bleak and troubled. However, it is juxtaposed against the star beings, who live on the ice age surface and live in harmony with each other and the planet. As usual, humans attempt their typical “this is our land” but are met with a new type of resistance. The Chasm (book two) deepens that resistance with a new threat that meets the humans’ violence and attempts at control head-on with equal violence. The series explores what it would take for us as a collective to change their basic beliefs about violence, ownership, connection to nature, seeing other species as equals, etc., but in a way that presents all sides of the issues and hopefully challenges us all to look at the situation a bit differently.

I know for myself, writing all the different points of view has definitely challenged my own beliefs.

As for the science fiction part, I once heard someone define science fiction as stories where science is used to solve the story’s main issue. To me, the genre does much more. It has often predicted scientific discoveries and new technology and exposed possible risks to society of such discoveries. Science fiction often challenges social and political beliefs through the use of aliens, humans colonizing other planets, or other worlds with unique social, political, and economic systems. I also think science fiction can expand what we consider to be possible, both in science and societies. It’s the mind-expanding nature of sci-fi that has always drawn me in as both a reader and an author.

They thought the biggest problem they faced was each other.

After Bleu, Rana, and their new friends narrowly prevent war between the star beings and humans, they hope the upcoming negotiation will secure the peace. Newly emerged from their subterranean haven, the Northern Haven humans are clearly not suited to Earth’s ice age, and require assistance from the enlightened star beings to survive long term on the Surface. But Commander Savas doesn’t trust the suspiciously kind star beings and their unexplainable abilities. When both sides reluctantly negotiate a joint mission to find the other Havens, Bleu must somehow cooperate with the manipulative commander to keep his friends safe.

As their team confronts unexpected dangers, Bleu and his teammates begin to suspect the star beings don’t know as much about the Surface as they claimed, while Rana is torn between remaining true to her nonviolent ways or becoming more human to survive. When an unnatural predator attacks, even the nearly all-knowing Kalakanya can’t explain it. Now the team must pull together or their new discovery will pull them apart, limb by limb.

Enjoy an Excerpt

As the sun descended behind the mountain and darkness crept across the frozen field, a strange dread seeped into Bleu’s bones. It felt like a warning, an alarm that danger lurked nearby.

He had known safety in Rana’s village, and he’d lost the spatial anxiety caused by the wide-open spaces of the Surface that differed so much from the cozy walls and tunnels of home. No, this unease wasn’t spatial anxiety to the openness of the sky and horizon.

This was different, and perhaps a bit similar to what Kahali feared. Bleu had never faced the possibility of other humans with guns. His team sat out in the open, exposed. The meager light from the cooking fire did nothing against the shroud of blackness surrounding them. No safe walls protected them from physical attacks or bullets. And then, there were the unknown predators of the region.

His earlier excitement of finding the footprints evaporated, leaving behind a gnawing awareness of their vulnerability. The darkness beyond the campfire could be punctured any moment by monstrous claws or gunfire. Childhood tales of the evil Undescended crowded his mind with images so ludicrously terrible that he wanted to laugh at himself.

Instead, he checked that they were all armed and sent Savas and Neviah to make sure the helicopters were locked. Animal calls and crunching footsteps drifted down the mountains as if something were encircling them. Even the confident star beings kept glancing out into the night. They should be comfortable in such wilderness, right?

About the Author: As a young girl, Branwen wanted to become an ambassador for aliens. Since the aliens never hired her, she now writes about them.

Branwen OShea has a Bachelors in Biology from Colgate University, a Bachelors in Psychology, and a Masters in Social Work. She lives in Connecticut with her family and a menagerie of pets, and enjoys hiking, meditating, and star-gazing. Her published works include Silence of the Song Trees, The Calling, The Cords That Bind, and The Chasm.

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Raven Remix by Sarah Hualde – Spotlight and Giveaway

November 15, 2022 By 5 Comments

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Sarah Hualde will be awarding a $20 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Most people run from death,
But not Penny.
She chases it down.

Penny’s premonitions put her friends in peril. Join her as she stalks the bird of death by following the musical clues he leaves behind.

Will she and her cheeky cat, Spades save the day?
Or will the Raven be one step ahead?

This Paranormal Penny Boxset features books 1, 1.5, and 2 in the Paranormal Penny Mystery Series.

Join Penny and Spades as they thwart murderers before they strike.

Enjoy an Excerpt

It wasn’t life that flashed before my eyes as Betty Fae thwacked me between the shoulder blades. It was death and disaster—replays of all the faces of shock and sadness worn by acquaintances of my past. Death of one sort or the other followed that stupid Raven.

I remembered them all. Vividly. The writer, the homeschool mom, the surfer, the politician. They were among the near-strangers I’d encountered and endangered.

Following their faces came the really painful pictures. The friendly child advocate, the sweet boy next door, and losing my aunt and uncle. After them, but always above them, followed the loss of my sister and father.

All because of the same intolerable bird. Gracious enough to give me a glimpse of their perils before nudging them to the brink. Impending doom sat, staring at me, from the cup of the only friend I had in town- Janice Rockland. It lingered there amid the froth bubbles, telling me Janice Rockland had twenty-four hours, at most, left to live.

My eyes watered. My throat closed all the tighter. Even after it dislodged my Belgian waffle. Air battled past my suffocating emotions. I gulped it down, despising myself and fearing for my boss.

Janice and Betty Fae offered me a glass of water and napkins, thinking they’d saved the day. Little did they know. Trouble had just landed in their small town.

Janice watched me through the rest of the meal. If I told her she was about to die, would she be able to eat? I sipped my coffee and avoided conversation.

About the Author:Sarah lives in California, in a home that brings her happiness and hay fever. She loves God, loves her family, and loves freshly brewed coffee. She has a husband who cooks, a son who stop animates, a daughter who loves animals, a dog that follows her everywhere, and a turtle who scowls at her condescendingly.

Her mother raised her on Mary Higgins Clark, Diane Mott Davidson, and Remington Steele. Her grandmother shared True Crime stories with her as they plotted how to get away with the perfect murder. It’s no surprise that Sarah became an award-winning spinner of suspenseful tales brimming with quirky characters. Mysteries are in her blood. Not that she could survive one of her own stories. She confesses, “I’d be snuffed out by chapter two.”

Website | Sarah’s Super Sleuth Squad | Super Squad Newsletter | Facebook | Twitter | Blog | Goodreads

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Guided Teachings from Spirit by Mike Ellis – Spotlight and Giveaway

November 14, 2022 By 2 Comments

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Mike Ellis will be awarding a $10 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

A spirit guide.
Love is the answer.
Love is the be-all.
Don’t be afraid.
I am here to help you.

These are a few of the words I had written down the morning after a trusted medium told me to buy a notebook and write down the very first thing that came to me. Okay, but these didn’t sound like things I would say. Was it really my spirit guide? I had doubts, and those doubts would stay with me over the next several months as I continued this daily ritual.

Eventually, I accepted the fact that this was spirit communication. This was a guide, and there would be two more to follow in the coming years. This has now become a daily routine after my morning meditation: sitting and writing what comes through me. It is indeed a deep communication with a close friend and confidant.

In the course of all of this, there would be so much more. How I improved and strengthened my mediumship abilities, how the Universe opened to me in so many ways, and how my personal life changed for the better. Do you think this is something you would be interested in trying? If I can do it, so can you. Follow my progress from my initial misgivings to my introduction to a whole new world.

Enjoy an Excerpt

In the book, I document my lowest point and the serendipitous events that slowly started taking place thereafter, my gradual understanding of what was happening, the incredible circumstances that led me to a psychic medium, and the five sessions I had with that medium over eleven years. Those sessions are transcribed in the book and detail all the family members, friends, and even pets that came through. The transcriptions also include the angels and spirit guides that came through and the future possibilities they foresaw for me.

The medium’s name is Claudette Godin. She is an incredible person with astounding abilities and is known both here and overseas. She has met many well-known names in the spiritualist community and is now the representative for Canada of the ISF (International Spiritualist Federation). The International Spiritualist Federation is a group of people interested in global spiritualism. They meet to support, share, and learn from each other. It includes healers, mediums, and anyone interested in furthering their education, communicating their knowledge, or demonstrating that death is not the end. That is the definition of spiritualism—the belief that there is more after we die and that spirit lives on. I have been most blessed to have experienced Claudette’s talents.

About the Author: Mike spent more than forty-five years in the stock brokerage business as a floor governor on the Vancouver Stock Exchange, and vice president of trading for a local brokerage house. Things began falling apart for him, including burnout, marriage separation, and financial worries. Mike left the business in 2008 and got a job at a local hospital as a security officer. He had been interested in metaphysical matters at an early age, but life interrupted further studies as his work and marriage took over more of his time. The Universe interceded when everything around him seemed to be falling apart, and his spiritual journey assuredly began.

Another of Mike’s passions is painting, predominantly in watercolor and oil. Mike has remarried and considers his life surpassing anything he could have imagined.

This is Mike’s second publication following Guided Messages from the Other Side.

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Character Creation by Robyn Singer – Guest Blog and Giveaway

November 11, 2022 By 2 Comments

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Robyn Singer will be awarding a $10 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Character Creation

Characters are the most important part of any story. In my eyes, this is not up for debate. Two years after finishing your book, readers won’t remember the details of the plot or the intricacies of your world building, but they will remember a character they truly fell in love with, or even hated with a fiery passion. It’s because of this that I put more effort into my characters than anything else, and it’s where I feel my writing truly shines. How do I create my characters?

Well, let’s take a look at my process.

Generally, I come up with a premise first and then create the characters around it. I’ll come up with personalities and backstories which allow them to fill the roles I need them to, which fit the themes of the story, and which make them unique. From there, I write out a description of what they look like, how they dress, what their hobbies are, what their favorite food is, what their goal is, and what their lie vs truth, or, what they learn about themselves during the story, is. As minor as some of these aspects may seem, all of them serve to help understand and flesh out a character.

Of course, sometimes the characters come first. Often, I’ll recycle characters from a previous work of mine which didn’t work, and insert them into a new story. When I do this, there’s much fun to be had tinkering with them in all the ways I listed above to keep the core of who they are, while also making them fit properly. More than once, I’ve specifically come up with a pitch just because I thought of how certain characters I’d created in the past could fit into a specific setting.

Like any writer, there are certain tropes I love above all others and while I try not to repeat myself to a gross extent, there are certain types of characters I like to have appear in all my stories, just because I have fun writing them.

I’m not one to base characters off of real people, though that is a totally valid strategy.
What I will often do, however, is steal the names of real people and give them to my character.
Names for my characters either come from that, a list online, or my brain thinking of something that fits on its own based on the vibes of the character.

What I keep in mind when I’m going through this process are the key elements a
character needs to possess. They need to be interesting, they need to be empathetic, they need to be lovable or hateable, depending on what you’re going for, and they need to say something in relation to what the story is about. Keep these things in mind when you’re breaking down your characters, and you’ll have a winner every time.

After years of adventures, professional thief and amateur noodle critic Yael is invited to join The Order of the Banshee, a collection of the greatest female thieves in the universe, despite being decades younger than any of them.

Yael’s childhood best friend, Molina, has lived the opposite life: a stern and serious member of The Sunrisers, the universe’s premiere peacekeeping organization, she’s just been promoted to Captain, serving under her father. Her first assignment of her new command: Bring down The Order of the Banshee.

Yael and Molina now find themselves on opposite sides of a conflict neither of them will escape unscathed. The love they have for each other is the same as when they were young, but either their personal values or their love will break.

In this game of cat and mouse, both women must use all their wits and tricks to stay ahead of their new enemy. Will order triumph, or will chaos? No matter what, Yael and Molina will both lose.

Enjoy an Excerpt

Outside the cave, ground troops were being deployed, the sound of their combat boots stomping on the moon’s surface echoing. And inside the cave, eleven of the smartest and most dangerous women in the universe were staring daggers straight into my eyes.

“I knew we couldn’t trust a whippersnapper,” Athena York said.

“How very disappointing,” Beatriz Nunez snarled.

“I have a granddaughter in the Sunrisers,” Lilith hummed. “If you tipped her off, I’ll at least respect you for going for the heart.”

I shook my head and swung my arms around, sweating from every pore. “I swear I didn’t call them. This is all just a big misunderstanding. You have my complete loyalty.”

Madame N’gwa cocked her head to the side and grinned. “You wanted to be a Sunriser when you were even more of a baby than you are now. Perhaps you made a deal to make your dream finally come true.”

A shocking pain surrounded my heart. Those Sunriser bastards had stolen all the trust I’d earned from my idols through years of deceit. Whichever captain was in charge of this operation was going to pay.

Lioness stepped forward, crushing her glass in her hand and sending small shards flying all over the place. “Thank you for sharing your story with me. But I don’t think we’ll be hearing anymore of them. Rather, I don’t think you’ll be living any more of them.”

About the Author: Robyn Singer is a lifelong New Yorker, and since she was a kid playing with her action figures, all she’s wanted to do is tell stories. She went to SUNY Purchase to get a degree in Playwriting & Screenwriting with a minor in Film and has produced several comic books, but she’s always had her eye on becoming a published novelist.

As an Autistic, bisexual trans woman, diversity and inclusion in stories are vitally important to her, and she seeks to represent as many groups as possible in her work. While she wants to show characters of marginalized groups experiencing joy, she also draws inspiration from real-world problems which bother her.

The Sunrisers (Cinnabar Moth Publishing, November 2022) is her debut novel. She writes novels and short stories of all genres and for all ages, and she continues to produce comic books. Her ongoing series, Final Gamble, will begin publication by Band of Bards in 2022.

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What I Would Tell A New Author by Rachel Brimble – Guest Blog and Giveaway

November 10, 2022 By 5 Comments

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Rachel Brimble will be awarding a $20 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

What I Would Tell a New Author

Ooh, where to start?? Haha!

I started my writing journey in 2005 with my first book being published in 2007. Since then, I have had a total of 28 books published (Victoria & Violet is number 28) and during that time I have learned a LOT about the process of writing, the toil of writing, the emotional high and lows of writing and what is REALLY involved in being an author. All of these things, of course, were beyond my grasp or imagination when my very first book was accepted by a publisher.

All that mattered to me then was that I had signed a publishing contract. And why wouldn’t that be the only thing that mattered? It was a huge achievement!

But by book three, reality had well and truly kicked in and I realized if I wanted to actually sell any books, I couldn’t recline on my chaise longue with a feather boa trailed around my neck a la Barbara Cartland style (look her up if you don’t know who she is!) and expect to make my fortune. I soon understood that publishers do not do as much as I assumed with regards to marketing and that promotion (for the most part) comes down to the author.

This is lesson number 1 for any aspiring author – be prepared for the time you will need to spend on promotion as well as writing. That is most definitely the biggest eye-opener.

Number 2 – The best advice I have ever received is ‘Give yourself permission to write a crappy first draft’. I have lived by this for the last ten novels, and it has quadrupled my output and made it so I enjoy the process so much more.

Number 3 – Try to find a good critique partner or two – I have had several critique partners over the years and loved working with all of them. I only have one right now, but we have been working together on our books for almost ten years now and I’d be lost without her.

These are most definitely my Top 3 Tips! I would also love for any aspiring romance writers out there to also check out my First Chapter Critique service – I have been running this service since 2019 and so proud of its continuing popularity. I work with aspiring authors on the first chapter of their novel, critiquing up to 3,500 words, and well as providing a report on dialogue, setting, characterization etc that they can use to tweak and revise their entire manuscript!

When Violet Parker is told she will be Queen Victoria’s personal housemaid, she cannot believe her good fortune. She finally has the chance to escape her overbearing mother, a servant to the Duchess of Kent. Violet hopes to explore who she is and what the world has to offer without her mother’s schemes overshadowing her every thought and action.

Then she meets James Greene, assistant to the queen’s chief political adviser, Lord Melbourne. From entirely different backgrounds and social class, Violet and James should have neither need nor desire to speak to one another, yet through their service, their paths cross and their lives merge—as do their feelings.

Only Victoria’s court is not always the place for romance, but rather secrets, scandals, and conspiracies…

Enjoy an Excerpt

“She…” Violet hesitated, feeling foolish carrying out the queen’s instructions when James was quite clearly busy and not at all happy. “She suggested we take a picnic.”

“A pic…” His eyes widened before his cheeks mottled. “It’s December!”

“I can pack some hot soup and bread. It will be…fun.”

“Fun? I can’t take myself off for a picnic when there is so much to do. What on earth will the workers think of me?”

His mood made her decidedly uneasy, but she could not defer on the queen’s request. She lifted her chin. “I’m sorry, James, but if the queen commands it, we cannot refuse. Besides, it will be last time you will see me for a while.”

He dropped his hand from his hair, his dark eyes boring into hers. “What are you talking about?”

“I have to go home. My mother claims my father is ill. Not that I believe a word of it, of course. But still, I must go.”

“Your mother is exerting her power again?”

“I have little doubt.”

He exhaled heavily, his gaze softening. “Give me an hour and I will come. Where shall we meet?”

“In the folly.”

“Very well.” His gaze dropped to her lips before he reached around her toward the door and opened it. “You should go.”

He stood so close, Violet could see flecks of blue in his eyes, smell the subtle maleness of him. Her treacherous heart swelled with silly, dangerous love. She forced a smile and ducked under his arm and through the open doorway.

About the Author: Rachel lives in a small town near Bath, England. She is the author of 29 novels including the Ladies of Carson Street trilogy, the Shop Girl series (Aria Fiction) and the Templeton Cove Stories (Harlequin). Her latest novel, Victoria & Violet is the first book in her new Royal Maids series with the Wild Rose Press and releases 17th October 2022.
Rachel is a member of the Romantic Novelists Association as well as the Historical Novel Society and has thousands of social media followers all over the world.

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Ten Concepts a New Author Needs to Embrace by Edward Hochsmann – Guest Blog and Giveaway

November 10, 2022 By 8 Comments

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. One randomly chosen winner via rafflecopter will win a $50 Amazon/BN.com gift card. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Ten Concepts a New Author Needs to Embrace

Dunning-Kruger Effect. The Dunning-Kruger Effect is an established psychological principle stating that people with low ability in a given task area tend to overestimate their prowess significantly and, conversely, that people with high ability tend to underestimate their abilities dramatically. What this means to a writer: if you feel super-confident or super-pessimistic about a piece you have written, you’re probably wrong. Act accordingly.

Red-Team (a.k.a. Editors). In my day job, we submit a finished analytical report to a group of peers whose job is to pick it apart and reveal any flaw, however small. We call these people a “red team,” and going through one hurts. A lot. It is the same with editors, but something you must put yourself through. If you don’t have editors finding and pointing out faults, rest assured you’ll have readers who will, quite publicly.

Don’t Give Up Your Day Job (at least, not yet). Fact: a fiction writer is an artist. Question: What’s the difference between an artist and a large pizza? Answer: the pizza can feed a family of four.

Let’s Exchange Reviews – NOT! I made this mistake once. It’s not so much your risk of getting a bad review. It’s the risk that you are obligated to someone who has just handed you a piece of trash. Before you agree to this, at least get a sense of their quality from other works.

Causality Dilemma. This is better known as the “Chicken or the Egg?” In our context, it is the big lie that creating a significant social media presence will sell your books. In my opinion, HAVING a significant social media presence MAY help you sell a lot of books, and selling a lot of books may get you a significant social media presence. However, a plan to build a significant social media presence as a marketing strategy for your book is a sure loser. Full Disclosure: I am one of those curmudgeons who believe social media platforms are graveyards for careers, reputations, and the human mind.

Caveat Emptor. There are many people out there who are very happy to take your money, and relatively few of them deliver any value in return. The Alliance of Independent Authors has prepared a fabulous database of self-publishing services ratings here:
Before pressing the “send money” button, this should be your first stop, and the second stop should be an Internet search with the terms “[name of vendor]” and “scam.”

Return on Investment-Part 1. If you pay someone to publish a book, you are not paying them to sell your book; just put it in print to be sold. I get spammed by the same company (who shall remain nameless) every time I register a copyright who insists I would be a fool not to use their service—their intimidation line is: “you wouldn’t cut your own hair, would you?” Folks, if you can write a good novel, you have the chops to publish it FOR FREE on Amazon, Draft-2-Digital, and Ingramspark. Now, if you want to spare yourself that work, it might be worth a little investment, but don’t believe for a minute you have to pay someone to self-publish. The best advice is to roll up your sleeves, go through KDP, D2D, and Ingramspark, and save your money for advertising.

Return on Investment-Part 2. Beware of people pushing promo-stacking. It’s quite true that not investing anything in advertising will almost certainly net zero sales. Likewise, you will likely not double your reader exposure by doubling your investment (many, if not most, subscribers are probably covered by both services). I’m not saying one and done, just that there is a very steep curve of diminishing returns.

I Will Review Your Book—NOT. Again, once your name gets out there, you’ll get spammed. JUST DON’T DO IT, even if it is for free. I have a similar opinion of bookstagrammers offering paid reviews—if they stiff you, what will you do, complain? See what kind of review THAT will get you! If you want reviews, go with Netgalley, Hidden Gems, or a legitimate vendor (consult the Alliance of Independent Authors database). Then if someone offers to review, you can direct them there.

Arrrr, Mateys! Know this: if you have a book that is not trash you are offering online, it WILL get pirated, guaranteed. Your chances of preventing that or taking effective action in response are essentially zero. If you want to identify where the leak came from, hide a tracer (a different word, punctuation, phrasing, etc.) somewhere within the text that you can use to identify the specific source. If it’s from one of the bigs like Amazon, there’s a chance they might be interested in applying some of their vast resources to crush the host pour encourager les autres. Pass it to them and then let go. You are not losing sales—the scumbags who grab books off pirate sites won’t pay for a book they can’t find for free.

An aging Coast Guard patrol boat is all that stands between the world and nuclear annihilation!

The world is on the brink of war, with NATO mobilizing to counter a Russian threat to Poland and Lithuania and leaders openly discussing war options. In the midst of the crisis, a Russian bomber collides with a U.S. fighter off Florida causing the accidental launch of a nuclear-tipped hypersonic missile.

A Coast Guard cutter on a routine patrol finds a drug-laden sailboat smashed and adrift north of the Florida Keys. The boat’s damage is from a near miss by the Russian missile which has not harmlessly flown deep into the Gulf of Mexico as initially thought, but crashed somewhere in the Keys.

The Coast Guard crew is in a race against a vicious and powerful international crime syndicate to find and recover the Russian nuke before its discovery can trigger a nuclear war.

Exploring the friendship and teamwork of a typical ship’s crew, in the face of unexpected and hazardous challenges, Dagger Quest provides a fast-paced, taut story – excellent fare for both sea adventure and military thriller fans.

Mission: Five days to destroy the enemy in the Caribbean before a catastrophic weapon is unleashed—but all he can think about is the woman he left behind…

The deadliest nerve gas ever made has fallen into the hands of a murderous Caribbean drug cult. The criminal 252 Syndicate has the gas in a secret lab on an oil rig servicing ship, but the ship has been taken for ransom by the Salinas Cartel in a violent drug war. The U.S. can’t use airstrikes and calls on Coast Guard Officer Ben Wyporek to lead his crew through a risky covert raid on the Salinas cult’s fortified island base. He accepts the assignment, but remembers a previous lethal encounter with the 252s and struggles to say goodbye to the love of his life, Victoria Carpenter.

Ben and his crew aboard the stealth-equipped Cutter Kauai must sneak into the harbor and tow the ship away. But if Kauai is detected and defeated, death by gas or at the hands of vicious adversaries will follow. Now, every decision Ben makes will determine the fate of his entire crew—and the chances of reuniting with Victoria.

This second book of the series builds on the friendships and teamwork of Kauai’s crew, this time in the face of several challenging missions and one potentially lethal encounter. It is a worthy sequel to Dagger Quest that sea adventure and military thriller fans will enjoy.

Young Coast Guard Lieutenant Haley Reardon has not even gotten her feet on the ground on her new patrol boat command when she finds herself and her crew supporting a dangerous covert mission. They must insert and retrieve a Defense Intelligence Agency operations team trying to seize a transnational criminal syndicate boss from a small Caribbean island controlled by a front company of the Chinese government and protected by a superior military force.

A honeymoon period would be lovely, but, as always, the world gets a vote.

Can Haley avoid leaving the DIA team to their fate, when attempting to rescue them could destroy her crew and boat and lead to war?

This third installment of the series conveys the humor, friendships, and teamwork of Kauai’s crew from the previous books, with a new series of exciting actions from search and rescue to combat. The crew and their new skipper must come together for the toughest mission they have ever faced.

Enjoy an Excerpt from Dagger Quest

Ben had already spent one magazine and slammed another into the carbine, resuming fire. His pistol was also charged and ready. Suddenly, there was a pause in the firing, and all the targets were out of sight. Ben glanced left along the barrier and froze in shock. Bill was sprawled out face up behind Simmons, eyes open and blood leaking from a hole in his forehead.

“Eyes front!” Simmons whispered urgently.

Ben whirled back to peer at the SUVs and whispered, “What are they doing?”

“Retasking,” Simmons said, pulling a small package out of one of his pockets. “They’ll try to take us now for interrogation.”

“What do we do?”

“Don’t get taken.”

“Thanks.”

“No, I mean, whatever you have to do, DO NOT get taken by these guys.” He looked Ben in the eyes. “Nothing would be worse, believe me.”

“Right.”

Some activity behind his SUV attracted Ben’s attention. There was a “whump” sound, and a grapefruit-sized object sailed overhead their position.

“FACE DOWN!” Simmons shouted.

Ben turned and buried his face in the sand when a loud “pop” sounded overhead, followed by a “whir” and a stabbing pain in the back of his right leg. A severe muscle cramp-like pain spread over his body within seconds, and he could not move. He tried to shout in terror, but all he heard was, “Ahhhhhh!” He felt another prick in his neck, and the pain subsided, although he still could not seem to get his muscles to work.

“It was a micro-flechette with a tetrodotoxin derivative. I’ve given you the antidote, but it’ll be about thirty seconds before it’s fully effective,” Simmons whispered as he pulled the now empty syrette out of Ben’s neck. “Fight it! They’ll be rushing us in a few seconds—you need to be shooting.”

About the Author: Edward Hochsmann is the pen name of a retired U. S. Coast Guard search and rescue and law enforcement professional. The veteran mariner, aviator, college professor, and defense analyst has added “author” to his list of experiences. Ed likes reading, police procedurals, contemporary music on the road, and classical music in the office. After a career traveling from Australia in the west to Italy and Germany in the east, Ed has settled into a quiet life in the Florida Panhandle to focus on writing (and not shoveling snow!)

Ed has two novels published right now (plus one launching in August 2022) in the Cutter Kauai Sea Adventures series about a Coast Guard patrol boat assigned to “special” missions. Dagger Quest takes place in the Florida Keys and involves an aging Coast Guard patrol boat dragooned into a search for a lost Russian nuclear weapon in a time of international crisis. The second, Caribbean Counterstrike, features the same patrol boat and crew, now with equipment and training upgrades, sent to recover a deadly nerve gas from a murderous Caribbean drug cartel. Bravely and Faithfully has Kauai, under a new captain supporting a covert raid on a Caribbean island held by the Chinese.

Ed’s second series, C6S: Patrol Force deals with a combined defense establishment and constabulary for a galactic economic empire called the Confederation of the Six Systems (C6S). Ed has published two novellas and a novel-length collection late last year.

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Avalon by Vanessa Morgan – Spotlight and Giveaway

November 9, 2022 By 3 Comments

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Vanessa Morgan will be awarding a $10 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Avalon is now also available in French!

Some cats need nine lives to make a difference. Avalon only needed one.

From Amazon bestselling author Vanessa Morgan, Avalon is the heartwarming and once-in-a-lifetime love story of a girl and her neurotic Turkish Van cat.

With humor, the author details how Avalon made other creatures cringe in distress whenever he was around, how he threw her dates out by means of special techniques, and how he rendered it almost impossible for her to leave the house. Avalon was so incorrigible that even the landlord ordered to get rid of him. But beneath Avalon’s demonic boisterousness, Vanessa recognized her own flaws and insecurities, and she understood that abandoning Avalon would be the worst she could do to him. Thanks to her unswerving loyalty, Avalon transformed into a tender feline and even landed a major role in a horror movie. In turn, Avalon made it his mission to be there for his human companion.

Avalon is a memoir for anyone who has ever been obsessively in love with a pet.

Enjoy an Excerpt

Ignoring the neighbors’ cats had diminished Avalon’s jealousy, but with four more beings in the apartment demanding my devotion, Avalon’s reality was still a far cry from his personal utopia, and new pet peeves were routinely added to his usual problem-seeking behavior.

Small changes often caused major disturbances. When we removed a DVD from the cupboard, or put a pen on the living room table that he wasn’t used to seeing there, Avalon pitched himself near the problem area and vocalized his complaints as if he was a muezzin calling to prayer. He only stopped if the space returned back to normal.

Intelligent and calculating as he was, Avalon had also developed a technique to prevent Ballon and Tigris from using his litter boxes. Each time he heard the scratch scratch scratch in the litter, he settled into attack mode behind the bathroom wall, wiggled his behind, and leapt onto the other cat as soon as it emerged, making it jump. It worked every…single… time. Proud, Avalon walked away from the crime scene with his nose pointing airwards.

Borat, our guinea pig, was initially the best one off, but ended up the most miserable. What kept him safe at first was Avalon’s fear of rodents. Cats may be considered deadly predators, killing a median of 2.4 billion birds and 12.3 billion mammals a year in the United States alone, but whenever Borat had free range inside the apartment, Avalon went in a large circle around him, avoiding him at all cost.

Eventually, Avalon ferreted out a way to make Borat twinge in distress whenever he approached. It started when I taught Avalon not to throw up on the bed and carpets. Those lessons must have been meaningful, because Avalon didn’t vomit in those places anymore. Instead he aimed for the guinea pig’s head. As soon as he felt a hairball mounting, Avalon ran as fast as he could toward Borat’s cage, leaned in, and puked his heart out.

About the Author:

Vanessa Morgan is the editor of the movie reference guides When Animals Attack: The 70 Best Horror Movies with Killer Animals, Strange Blood: 71 Essays on Offbeat and Underrated Vampire Movies, and Evil Seeds: The Ultimate Movie Guide to Villainous Children. She also has had one cat book (Avalon) and four supernatural thrillers (Drowned Sorrow, The Strangers Outside, A Good Man, and Clowders) published. Three of her stories have been turned into movies. She has written for myriad Belgian magazines and newspapers and introduces movie screenings at several European film festivals. She is also a programmer for the Offscreen Film Festival in Belgium. When she’s not working on her latest book, you can find her reading, watching movies, eating out, or photographing felines for her blog Traveling Cats.

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Ten Things Most People Don’t Know About Jennifer Juvenelle – Guest Blog and Giveaway

November 9, 2022 By 6 Comments

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Jennifer will be awarding a $50 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

10 Things Most People Don’t Know About Me
Here is a fun list of things most people don’t know about me. Even my closest friends might be surprised about a few on the list!

1. I’ve had lots of odd jobs but the one that makes most people who meet me go, “Huh???” is the fact that I became a Medical Assistant and worked in a urology clinic for over a year!

2. I’m a Reiki Master. I discovered energy healing in my early twenties and quickly became a Reiki practitioner.

3. I’m bilingual and a half! I’m fluent in English and French, and thanks to living in Mexico for the last two years, I now speak conversational Spanish.

4. In middle school, instead of walking, I used to skip down the hallways at school. So much energy!

5. I didn’t know I wanted to be a writer until I started writing a book at the age of 32. The very one featured in this giveaway!

6. At 23, I dropped out of college to move to Paris. Bonjour!

7. When I was little I wanted to play in the dirt with worms but I didn’t want to get dirty so I would don a pair of latex gloves and play til my heart’s content!

8. I love the smell of coffee but rarely, if ever, drink it. I’ve never been much of a beverage drinker outside of water until recently. My husband has gotten me into drinking tea (he’s Australian), and living in the tropics has me drinking TONS of coconut water.

9. As an only child growing up, I spoke to cats in their own language. As an adult, I still commune with them whenever possible. Meow!

10. I rejected my husband when we first met! Thanks to years of earnest persistence and genuine friendship, I eventually grew to see what an amazing catch he is! Not to mention doing oodles of work on myself to stop going for the wrong kinds of men. (Can I get an amen!)

Some Family Trees Should Be Burned. . .

Greer Girls are special. Greer Girls are rare. Greer Girls are central to the secret Order of Belial.

Sophie Greer knows none of this. All she knows is that her now ex-boyfriend cheated on her, she’s alone working in Paris, and her mysterious billionaire boss, Edward Hughes, is way too interested in her life.

But when Sophie is kidnapped in Moscow while on a business trip, she’s plunged into the dark underbelly of the global elite and a sinister secret society with deep ties to her family; ties that lead to revelations darker than anything Sophie could have imagined.

Betrayed by the man who raised her, and targeted by the illustrious Hughes family, only one thing is certain—family history can be deadly. If Sophie is to survive, she must decide who to trust and what to believe, or risk being crushed beneath the weight of the all-powerful secret Order of Belial.

Enjoy an Except

Smoke from the other vehicle’s engine fills the back seat. Coughing, I cover my nose and mouth as I desperately search for a solution. The whole right side of the vehicle is smashed in. There’s no getting out that way. I’m considering trying to break the back left window when I spy the dividing curtain swinging in the cool fall breeze.

Tugging the makeshift divider aside, I peek into the front to see the driver hunched over the steering wheel, unconscious. If I move carefully, I might be able to climb around him to get out the driver’s side. I’m about to make my move when the back door squawks open. A large gust of fresh air rushes into the banged-up vehicle. My head swivels to assess the new arrival.

No. It can’t be. A trillion queries rise and fall as I look upon my assailant—my savior? It’s too much. Between the plane ride, the abduction, and being left alone to rot for a week in a gaudy prison then carted out like a virgin for sacrifice, I’m spent. Where does it end?

There’s a popping sound as my mouth forms a tiny O in stunned surprise. Edward, looking like James Bond in a classic European-cut suit (probably Armani) and a light-grey dress shirt, unbuttoned at the top, is standing in the open doorway, hand outstretched in a gesture of chivalry as if these were the most natural circumstances under the Russian moon. I give him a blank stare.

“I told you I’d find you.” His silky voice floats past my ears, rattles around in my brain and down to my chest, where it nuzzles itself snugly into my heart.

About the Author: JENNIFER JUVENELLE is a Native American/French author born in Hollywood, raised in Detroit, and fashioned in France. Formerly an actress and model, Jennifer now splits her time between crafting psychological thrillers and the magic of motherhood. A survivor of childhood sexual abuse, Jennifer made healing from trauma a priority when her life became untenable. Daughter of Belial is the unexpected product of her journey from trauma to triumph. An eager explorer, she currently lives in a remote Mexican seaside-jungle village with her debonair Aussie author husband and their young son.

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